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WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Fox News faces criticism from the Trump campaign and its allies for projecting that Arizona’s 11 electoral votes would go to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, as other news networks sought more evidence before placing a call.
Fox Corp’s chief Fox News correspondent at the Fox Corp White House, John Roberts, called Trump’s campaign “livid” because the network screened Arizona for Biden, saying, “Reject is a very easy word to use.
Trump supporters said there were too many votes pending for Fox to call Arizona for Biden.
Jason Miller, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, said Fox made his screening with 1 million ballots left to count from Election Day.
Trump could win the state if he wins 61 percent of those votes, he said on Twitter.
“It’s too early to call an election in Arizona,” Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said on Twitter.
“Election day votes are not fully reported and we have not even started counting the first ballots that were delivered at the polls.”
Fox News decision board director Arnon Mishkin defended the on-air call, saying the president “will not be able to get enough votes to take on that leadership.”
The network declined to comment on its screenings.
The Arizona projection could exacerbate tension between the president and the news network, controlled by press baron Rupert Murdoch, whose opinion leaders often support Trump.
In recent months, Trump has publicly criticized the network, in August tweeting: “People watching @FoxNews, in record numbers (thank you President Trump), are angry. They want an alternative now. Me too!”
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, investors aligned with the Trump family are exploring opportunities to fund a conservative media venture or Trump-themed outlet.
Fox has been faster than the other US television networks in projecting the results of the 2020 presidential elections, even as she and other news networks asked for caution in interpreting the first results.
Shortly after 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday (November 3), which is 12 p.m. Singapore time on Wednesday, Fox Corp’s Fox News had projected Biden in the lead with 212 electoral votes and Trump with 148 votes.
CNN had also projected an advantage of Biden with 192 votes and Trump with 108 votes.
It was the first network to project that Trump would win Florida and then that Biden would win Arizona. As of 1 am ET (2 pm Singapore time Wednesday), no other network had screened over Arizona.
In this year’s contest between President Trump, a Republican, and former Vice President Biden, a Democrat, television networks face increased pressure to report election results accurately and without unwarranted speculation.
This is the first presidential election in which the main television networks obtain data from different providers.
Fox News and the Associated Press no longer use traditional in-person exit polls, instead relying on online and phone polls that aim to reach voters early and on Election Day.
News organizations are combining the survey data with real-time results tabulated by AP to help make projections.
All three news networks and CNN are part of the National Election Pool (NEP) consortium, which relies on the firm Edison Research for exit polls and the results as they arrive from each precinct. Reuters has a distribution agreement with the NEP for the 2020 election data.
Partly because of these different data sets, Fox News has projected some states, like Alabama and West Virginia, up to two hours earlier than the other networks.
For live results and updates, follow our live coverage of the US elections.
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